What are you giving up for Lent?

Take that last bite of a pazcki. Put your Mardi Gras beads away. In the shadow of one of the most sinful nights of the year comes Ash Wednesday – the official start of Lent.

In Foggy Bottom, you can get ashes on the run. In Rhode Island, you don’t even have to get out of the car. It seems a tradition that dates back thousands of years has caught up with our everyday needs.

“Lent has been a tradition of the church for thousands of years, dating back to the early Church,” says Father Justin Ross of Catholic University. He adds that today’s interpretation of the 40-day season has changed over the centuries. If not a time exclusively for fasting, giving and prayer, it is perhaps a tiem of sacrifice for personal gain.